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Workout and Nutrition Thoughts + Workouts of the Week

Since switching front squats and back squats, I'm getting great results and really liking it! As I've said, front squats feel SO much better in the lower rep range, and I'm suprisingly enjoying the higher reps for back squats. No hip flexor or any hip pain whatsoever, which makes me happy! I'm hoping that this change will help me to grow my quads! I'm already seeing a difference, but it could just be all in my head. My weight isn't up, so it really wouldn't make sense that I would be building muscle.

Speaking of building muscle, I think I'm going to change up some things nutrition wise to focus on gaining a couple of pounds. I know, I know,  that doesn't sound like much, but on my body, it is. I'm consistently around 118-120 pounds, and I'd like to get that up to 121-122 again. I've already somewhat increased my calories in the last few months by adding more carbs pre and post workout, but my weight still hasn't gone up, so it's time to add more! I still don't want to go back to tracking, so I'll just keep my fats the same, keep rest day meals the same, and just aim for twice my bodyweight in carbs on workout days. I'm guessing that I'm typically around 180-220 grams right now, so my goal will be to get around 240 grams.

I do want to point out that as I've said before, my purpose in life is NOT my physique, and I'm not going to start getting obsessed about it again. I just want to try and see what will happen by upping my carbs even more, which really won't be hard to do. I really, truly do love the way I eat right now-I am full and satisfied with all of my meals, I love everything I eat, I never feel restricted, and that is something I don't want to mess with. But I do have to admit that the only time I was successful with weight gain was when I was tracking and making sure to hit 2500 calories a day. Now that I don't track, my calories vary from day to day, and I'm obviously not getting in enough consistently to gain weight.

I know that as far as building muscle goes, if you're training hard in the gym and not eating over maintenance, you're just spinning your wheels. Since my weight has been pretty steady for the last year or so, I know that I'm obviously not eating over maintenance, or at least not consistently. But honestly, that really hasn't even been my goal anyway, as I've been focusing on being content with how I look and getting away from being so obsessed with my physique. It's not something that I'm going to stress about, buuuut I do think I would like to gain some more muscle in my legs, which means that I just gotta eat even more. I won't complain about that. ;)

Well, anyways, here are my workouts from this past week:

VACATION WORKOUTS-
Since I wanted to workout another day while in New York, I split my first upper body this week into two workouts-upper body pull and upper body push. I still much prefer working the entire upper body, but nothing wrong with switching things up sometimes!

SUNDAY UPPER BODY PULL
1) Wide grip pullups: 5 minute amrap-30
2) 1 arm DB row: 50x10/60x8/60x8
3)Wide grip, pronated machine row: 4x10
4a)Bentover lateral raise on incline bench: 10 x 3x15
4b)Hammer curls: 20x12/10/10
5)Pullaparts x 100

TUESDAY UPPER BODY PUSH
1)DB chest press: 50x3x8/40x8
2)HSPU: 5/4/ Landmine press: +25x6/+15x9/9
3)Pushups: Rest pause set to 40 reps(20-30 second rests)
4)Lateral/front/overhead dumbbell raises: 5x3x10
5)DB lying tricep extensions: 20x10/15x10/15x10
6)Cable crunch: 3x15

GYM WORKOUTS:

WEDNESDAY LOWER BODY
Front squats felt awesome today. Went heavier than I have in years, and was able to get up to 145 with a couple reps left in the tank. Now I know what I'm capable of, so no more baby weights on those! Deadlifts weren't easy but weren't crazy hard either. I did as many sets as I could with a double overhand grip and no belt. I know that next month will be tough when the percentages go up!

1)Box jump(30"): 3x3
2)Front squat: 115x3/125x4/140x3/145x3/145x3
3)Deadlifts: 5x3 @80% (195)
4)Glute ham raise: 0x8/10x3x8
5)Calf raise machine: 110x10/130x10/140x10/140x10
6a)Back extensions: 25x15/12/12
6b)Lateral band walks: 3x12


FRIDAY UPPER BODY
This workout was fun! I didn't go super heavy on jerks, just used this as practice pretty much. I was going to do some push presses but changed my mind since I'm thinking I'll do those Monday. For bench press I changed it up and used the Swiss bar, which was the first time I've used it for bench. It was harder, but I liked it! Did a couple sets of those and then decide to try decline bench presses, which I also really liked. I really felt them in my pecs and less in the shoulders and triceps like with regular bench press. Sometimes it's just fun to try different things. I tend to have the mindset that you just HAVE to do the big 3 lifts, but I think it's good every now and then to do variations of them, especially if your goal is hypertrophy.

1)Clean and jerk practice: 95x3/115x2/115x2/125x1
2)Muscle ups: 5 single with 10-20 seconds rest
3)Swiss bar bench press: 95x5/100x5/ decline bench press: 95x8/105x8
4)Tbar rows: 70x8/7/7/6
5a)Face pulls: 3x12-15
5b)DB lateral raise: 17x10/10/15x12
6)Cable curls: rest pause/drop sets: 4 sets of 8, dropping weight each set, with 15-20 second rest
7)Lsit holds: 3x20 seconds

SATURDAY LOWER BODY
This workout was tough! I was able to get 2x10 with 225 on hip thrusts! My goal has been 3x10 with 225, so I'm almost there! Then for squats I did 3x8 with 165, which I was super happy about. If I could just get my breathing under control, I think I could go heavier, but dang, 8 reps is hard! I upped the weight on walking lunges this week also. First set wasn't that bad, but by the last set I felt like I was skimping on range of motion, so I only did 8 reps. There was no way I was doing sled pushes after this workout, so I just did a glute finisher. I'll probably add sled pushes or sprints in after another workout or on an off day. I really do need to get better at conditioning to help me get through my higher rep leg workouts!

1)Hip thrusts: 135x10/185x10/205x10/225x10/225x10
2)Squats: 135x8/165x3x8
3)RDLs: 155x8/165x2x8
4a)Seated leg curls: 3x15/12/12
4b)Walking barbell lunge: 80x10/10/8
5)Seated calf raise: x20/15/15/15-dropped weight each set, 30 second rests
6a)Seated band abuctions: 4x20-25
6b)Band goblet squats: 20x3x15


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